Difficult Choices
by Aviana8
Summary: Difficult choices are a part of life. This is a Victorious fanfiction about Cat's struggle with choosing between boys. She has two guys waiting on her command, but she can only choose one. Beck has recently broken up with Jade, and he's now got his eye on the petite redhead, but so does the new alternate captain of the Hollywood Arts hockey team, Tyler Johanssen.
1. Chapter 1

Tyler Johanssen pushed open the door that led outside and glanced out nervously at the huge crowd gathering in the courtyard outside his new school. There was a buzz in the air, and he didn't like it.

Tyler was used to being in front of big crowds, but this was different. This was out of his domain. He wasn't sure what to make of it yet.

He glanced up at the stage that was suspended above the crowd and saw a girl standing onstage, a microphone clutched in her hand. She had long brown hair and eyes of the same color. It took a second for her face to click with a name. This girl was Tori Vega, the most popular student at Hollywood Arts. She was a singer, an actress, and just about everything you needed to make it at this school. A boy Tyler immediately recognized as her friend Andre stepped up next to her, and Tori raised the microphone to her mouth.

"Hey everyone!" she said, cringing slightly at the way the microphone butchered her voice. "Andre and I wrote a song for the upcoming state music competition, and we wanted to get some feedback on it, so sit back and enjoy!"

Tyler sat down on a bench, eager to hear what they'd prepared. The guitars started and the song held a sweet melody. He glanced down and tried to block out the thoughts of his old home. He'd left Canada less than forty eight hours earlier, leaving behind his friends and teammates, and now he was living with a completely new billet family, as well as having to attend a new school and join a new team.

The beat picked up, the song turning into something fun and easy to dance to. People began to clap to the beat and dance in the crowd. Tyler glanced up and caught the eye of a small redhead. He looked away quickly, but couldn't stop himself from turning back after a few seconds. She smiled and looked back at the stage. Tyler drowned out the music by focusing on her, trying to learn her every detail. She was short, maybe 5 feet. Her red hair appeared to be long and silky smooth, hanging midway down her back. Her brown eyes held a lively twinkle that strongly drew his attention, and her small smile was undeniably adorable. He made a mental note to talk to her later, if it was at all possible.

Lunch was only a few hours later. Several people broke through the doors to the courtyard outside just a few moments after the bell to lunch had rung, filling the seats at the tables positioned at random intervals throughout the area.

At her usual table, Cat fiddled with her fork, actively avoiding her food. She poked a limp piece of lettuce and it flopped over unattractively on her plate. She stared at it with a frown.

"Cat, eat it... It's good for you." Tori said, having watched Cat pick at her food for the past few minutes.

Cat put the piece of lettuce in her mouth and chewed slowly without enthusiasm. When Tori looked back down to her casserole, Cat immediately spit the lettuce into a napkin, wadding it up in a ball in her hand so Tori wouldn't see. Beck noticed and laughed from across the table, and she glanced up, briefly admiring his smile for the few moments it shone. Looking at him, she knew something was off. Dark circles were under his eyes. His eyes were very faintly red-rimmed. She didn't bother to question him, since she knew he would talk about it on his own time.

"Come on, it's almost time for class. We have to go get you fixed up." Tori said to Beck after noticing how he looked like he hadn't slept a wink. She turned back to Cat for a brief moment. "See you later, Cat."

Cat watched as her two friends stood from the table and walked away, leaving her alone. She sat there for what seemed like forever before she heard a voice come from behind her.

"Hey."

She turned around, slightly startled.

A boy was standing there. He looked awfully tall, maybe about six feet. He was muscular, the T-shirt he wore clearly defining and emphasizing the curves of his biceps and triceps. He had light blonde hair spiked up above his head, and his eyes were an oceanic blue, distinctly reminding her of the blue waves that would crash onto the shore at Venice Beach.

He smiled apologetically when he realized he had startled her. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Just saw you sitting here all alone, and I thought I'd come and say hi, keep you company."

She felt butterflies in her stomach, making her feel lightheaded for just a moment.

"I'm new here, and I don't know many people," he continued.

"I can show you around," she offered, and he looked up with a surprised smile. "I'll introduce you to my friends, and you can hang out with us."

He seemed so familiar, but she didn't know why. She thought for a few moments, until she realized he had to be the boy she had spotted during Tori and Andre's performance a few hours earlier.

"I'm Tyler," he said, extending his hand for a handshake. She extended her hand in return, their hands slotting together for a few moments.

"I'm Cat," she responded, leaving her hand entangled with his for much longer than was necessary, hoping it wouldn't become uncomfortable to Tyler.

"So, what do you do outside of school?" Tyler asked her, secretly not wanting to let go of Cat's hand, but there was absolutely no way he was admitting that.

"Just hang out, go to the beach, stuff like that." Cat mentally rolled her eyes. Hang out? Go to the beach? Was she serious? She sounded like an idiot. Couldn't she have thought of anything better to say? Maybe his presence was just tripping her up. "You?"

"Hockey takes up most of my life," he said with a soft laugh, and she caught a glimpse of his impressive smile, slightly lopsided and exposing a few impressively white teeth. "But I'm looking forward to trying some new things here."

She nodded her understanding. Hockey had to be the reason why his biceps and triceps were so impressive.

"What team do you play for?" she asked, hoping her lack of knowledge of the sport didn't come back to bite her.

"I'm playing for the Hollywood Arts team, actually." He smiled.

Cat had never known they had a team before that moment, but, hey, they had had a ping-pong team, so it was pretty obvious that they should have a hockey team.

"When do you play next?" she asked.

"We've got a game here in LA on Friday night. I can get you tickets if you want," he offered. She smiled happily, delighted to hear that. While she didn't know much about the sport, watching a cute guy work his impressive muscles for a few hours had to be a good time.

"I'd like that," she replied, as the bell rang loudly, signaling the end of lunch and, unfortunately, the end of their conversation.

"Meet me at my locker after school," he said. "I'll make sure you can get some tickets."

"Thanks," she said. She didn't realize she was about to be late to her next class until she looked up to see the courtyard empty, save for her and Tyler. "Well, I better get to class now. See you after school," she said, lifting her hand in a brief wave to him before she headed to class.


	2. Chapter 2

"And acting is all about making people believe!" Sikowitz said, droning on and on about an acting topic that Cat honestly couldn't care less about right now.

She stared blankly at the wall. Cat had never felt like this before; this insane mix of something entirely unfamiliar. Whatever it was, it had coped well with the hard task of hiding her emotions.

Tori turned in her chair and shot her a weird look from the row ahead of her, noticing her unusual silence. It wasn't like her not to be bubbly and cheerful. Andre noticed her silence as well, reaching over and patting her knee lightly.

"You okay, Little Red?" he questioned in a hushed whisper.

She nodded, not bothering to turn her head to look at him or open her mouth to respond vocally. She could see his worried expression out the corner of her eye, and she knew she wasn't selling the fact that she was alright.

Sikowitz droned back into her brain, and began to explain how to "effectively" re enact a sad scene. Tori put her hands up in protest of his insane rant, and he waved her off.

Cat leaned back and stared at the back of Beck's head. His head was lowered and angled towards the ground, which meant he probably wasn't paying attention to Sikowitz's inane rambling either and staring at the ground instead. She wondered why Beck had been so shaken today. Maybe it was something with Jade? After all, she was known for blowing things out of proportion.

Cat was brought back to reality by having a coconut rested on her head, as her overly enthusiastic teacher demonstrated how to fake cry. It was awful showmanship, but Cat pretended not to notice, so as to not disturb the man.

In another classroom on the other side of the school, Tyler was sitting in front of his canvas, paying little attention to whatever his teacher was saying. He glanced at the clock, thinking about how he couldn't wait to get out of this class. Art had never been his calling, and he was stuck in a double block of some cross between painting and drawing. Who even knew what it was at this point?

"Forty minutes to go..." he muttered to himself, willing the hands on the clock to turn faster so he could finally get out.

"Tyler, what do we have here?" he heard behind him, feeling a firm hand on his shoulder. He paled slightly, realizing his teacher was right behind him.

"Uhm, I... I have no idea." he answered honestly as the man leaned in toward the canvas, hoping the teacher would recognize the mess on the canvas as something artistic instead of something he had no idea what he was doing with.

"Looks like a prime example of action painting!" the teacher declared, praising him, much to Tyler's surprise.

"I... um, guess so?" Tyler raised an eyebrow. "Maybe it's just luck."

A student across the room spilled a can of paint on the floor, the can clattering noisily, distracting the teacher from Tyler's work. Once the teacher was on the other side of the room, Tyler glanced up at the clock again. The hands on the clock still mocked him, seeming to turn even slower, backwards, even, to torture him. God, he felt like he would be stuck here forever.

A loud, unfamiliar bell rang, the level of the noise making him wince. This bell sounded much different from the normal bell that rang to end class. Tyler looked back up at the clock, squinting to determine that there was still time before the end of class.

"Fire!" someone shouted, the word rippling around the room. The class began to line up at the door like they were instructed to. Tyler got up and hurried to join the class at the end of the line, his mind racing. Was there actually a fire, or was this just an unexpected drill?

The class began to proceed calmly through the door, and he relaxed. No sign of anything in the halls, maybe it was just a drill. Then he saw it. The sprinklers were on, soaking the walls and flooding the school.

Sikowitz's rant was interrupted by a loud, sharp ringing emanating through the room. At first, he thought it was just a noise in his head, but he soon realized it was the ring of the fire alarm.

"Every man for himself!" Sikowitz shouted, jumping through the window head first and tumbling into the flower garden just outside the window.

Tori ran to catch the window before it shut, but she was too late and it slammed shut, refusing to budge further after Sikowitz opening it to make his escape. The room quickly descended into pandemonium. Utter chaos abounded as students threw aside chairs in feeble attempts to escape the room.

Beck managed to open the door and ran into the hallway, heading for the exit. Halfway there, with his classmates on his heels in hot pursuit, he stopped. Cat! She'd been sleeping in the chair behind him, and he doubted she would have woke up even with the noise. After all, unexpected noises were an everyday occurrence in Sikowitz's class.

Beck spun around and ran back toward the classroom, ignoring his friends' shouting after him. He burst into the room and found Cat just where he'd expected. He picked her up easily, her body light and limp in his arms, and carried her out of the room. He ran as fast as he could with another person in his arms and burst out the front door.

It was a sunny day out, the birds were singing, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. He glanced back at the building; it looked normal, just like it did every day.

Cat stirred, opening her eyes, jumping slightly from fright when she realized she was no longer in her chair.

Beck shook his head in disbelief. He'd just ran back into a building he'd thought was burning to save her, and he was greeted with this romance killer?

"What happened?" Cat asked, in a daze.

"Fire drill," Beck mumbled, gently setting her down.

Yes, it was a romance killer that the day was fine and the building was unharmed, but he couldn't wait. He went for it anyway. Their lips met, and at first he felt Cat draw back in shock, but she soon moved in and embraced him as well. He was gentle, but passionate, and she felt at home with him. She felt the butterflies in her stomach finally settle a bit after having swarmed her for the entire day.

They separated after a few moments. Cat opened her eyes to look at Beck. He was smiling, which was a good sign. She opened her mouth to say something, but Beck touched her face gently, stopping her dead in her tracks. She stared into his eyes for what seemed like an eternity before they turned away. As she looked away, she saw the back of a muscular boy stalking away. She recognized the hair, her stomach flipping, the butterflies in her stomach picking up again and leaving her with an odd feeling. It was Tyler. What had she done, and just what had he seen? One look at his cold expression left her with no doubt in her mind; she had some explaining to do if she ever wanted his company again.


	3. Chapter 3

Tyler walked through the shiny metal doors decorated with the Hollywood Arts logo and felt an insane rush of joy as he did so. He was mere minutes away from getting back on the ice, and he couldn't wait. He felt the purple rubber floor under his skate blades and smiled to himself.

He was in a state of the art building made specifically for the Hollywood Arts team. The Pear Ice Palace, as it was called, was the newest big arena in Los Angeles, built entirely for Hollywood Arts by the Pear Store. It was massive, with huge underground complexes stretching for what seemed like miles. The complexes were for the teams and people affiliated with them, and not only did they have dressing rooms, equipment rooms, meeting rooms, lounges, and everything else a team could need, they came fully equipped with machines to dispense coffee, energy drinks, or anything else deemed helpful to an athlete.

The bass pounded from the state of the art speakers in the dressing room, and Tyler sat and thought about what his first lap of the ice would be like. It was a massive building, with enough space for 15,000 seats. Needless to say, there wouldn't be that many used, at least for now, but it was impressive all the same. The building had merchandise shops and cafes, box seats, and different prices for different levels of seating. It was a dream come true.

But it balanced itself out when he thought about the team's dismal reputation. The Pear Store had sponsored the team only because they didn't want to see the school's reputation be ruined. They were now the richest team in the league by a long shot, but they were fully expected to represent well.

Tyler thought back to the day he got the message. The General Manager of the Hollywood Arts team had traded for him because of his great hands and ability to score. He'd assured him that he'd be able to fit in at their school, but now Tyler had to play well or it would all disappear. He was worried, because the previous season the team had been worst in the league, only compiling ten wins of their seventy regular season games.

The thing about the Hollywood Arts hockey team was that they weren't like any other sports team in the school. They were an actual organization playing for a lot of money and working with a lot of fans. They had paid staff whose goal was to help the team win in any and every way possible. Whoever said hockey wouldn't make it in California was sadly mistaken.

Tyler was shaken back to reality by a horn that signalled the start of practice. He walked down the hallway behind his teammates, who were slowly filing out of the room. After navigating the maze of tunnels, he ended up at the ice and took a step onto it. It was dry, which made it better to skate on. He focused on his strides for a few moments before looking up, curiosity and the desire to get a better look at the impressive design of the building guiding him. He was astounded. Bright lights shone from all over the building, and the roof was so high that he could barely see it. There was a massive box that hung right above center ice, with television screens on each side to display the action in real time. The scoreboard was also located on the massive piece of machinery, and he stared up in awe. A Jumbotron. He'd never played under one of them before. He couldn't wait to get the season started.

This place wasn't so bad, he decided. The organization was great, school was fine, and he'd met Cat. His face darkened. He'd forgotten about Cat. She had seemed so sweet, but he must have misread her. Or had he? His mind began racing as he thought of all the things he could have done wrong. Should he have gone for it earlier? Should he have waited to introduce himself?

"Tyler, you alright, buddy?" called his coach, Sean.

"Yeah, fine." Tyler lied.

He glanced down at his brand new equipment and felt another rush of gratitude. His team had supplied him with what seemed to be an infinite supply of equipment and anything else that could be useful to a player such as himself. His stick was silver and red, custom-made for him by Infinity Sports. They'd let him choose his curve, length, and colors before they'd made him a stick. His last name, Johanssen, was printed all in capitals on the side of the stick along with his number, 8. He was dressed in a purple practice uniform, which had also been custom ordered.

All of this, and he still wasn't happy. He fired a puck at the boards and watched it send a shiver down the plexiglass. He'd thought Cat had liked him. He'd thought that he had a chance.

**********

Tyler stumbled to his locker in a stupor, failing to open it three times before finally getting the right combination and opening it. He dropped his bags into it and closed it. He turned around and jumped. Behind him was a small, familiar redhead in all her splendor. She looked up at him through sad eyes, and he found it was hard to stay upset with her. Besides, he hadn't said anything about liking her, so how was she supposed to know?

"Hi," she said softly, staring down blankly at her navy blue flats.

"What's up? I saw you having fun yesterday." Tyler replied casually, trying to hide his bitterness.

"Tyler, I swear I didn't mean to, he just kind of went for it!" she frantically tried to explain.

Was she actually trying to tell him that it wasn't her intention? That she still had her eye on somebody else? Maybe it was nothing, but a small spark of hope formed in him, and he flashed his first smile that day.

"It's alright," he told her, trying not to look at her glistening eyes for too long. "I get it. Stuff happens. But anyway, you probably want those tickets."

"Oh, sure!" she said, returning to her normal, cheery self. "I haven't asked Tori yet, but I'll talk to her at lunch. Speaking of lunch, are you sitting with us?"

"I suppose..." Tyler said, pulling out the tickets he'd obtained and handing them over. "I don't see why not."

"Yay! Meet me at my normal table!" Cat replied, bouncing away.

Tyler shook his head. The way her mood changed in the blink of an eye never failed to astound him. But then again, there must have been something to those mood swings, because he kept going back. He kept waiting for the next one. Because he cared. Deep down inside, he knew he was already falling for Cat, but he couldn't tell just how much of a wild ride was in store...


End file.
